New Vocab: Ecology Community Ecosystem Review Vocab: Biome Organism KEY CONCEPT Ecology is the study of the relationships among organisms and their environment. New Vocab: Ecology Community Ecosystem Biome Review Vocab: Organism Population

Main Idea 1: Ecologists study environments at different levels of organization. Ecology is the study of the interactions (relationships) among living things, and between living things and their surroundings. Studying how life interacts within the biosphere. Scientists used to study each organism separately as if they existed in isolation.

Levels of Organization (There are 5 levels) However, now scientists study nature on different levels, from local to a global scale. This organization reveals the complex relationships found in nature.

First level: An organism is an individual living thing, such as an alligator. Organism

Second level: A population is a group of the same species that lives in one area. What can cause populations to change? Population Organism

Limiting Factors of Populations Birth & death rates eventually balance Factors: Disease, food, predators, climate, space, mates Carrying Capacity: Greatest number of individuals that a population can sustain What stage is the human population in?

Human Population: Fast Growth Stage How have humans extended our carrying capacity? Farming Medical innovations Clean water Public assistance

Third level: A community is a group of different species that live together in one area. Community Population Organism

Fourth level: An ecosystem includes all of the organisms as well as the climate, soil, water, rocks and other nonliving things in a given area. Ecosystem Community Population Organism

Fifth level: A biome is a major regional or global community of organisms characterized by the climate conditions and plant communities that thrive there. Biome Ecosystem Community Population Organism

Basically, a biome is a large area with distinct climate, plant, and animal life. Climate factors that affect biomes: sun, rain, topography Climate determines life.

New Vocab: Biotic Abiotic Biodiversity Keystone Species KEY CONCEPT Every ecosystem includes both living and nonliving factors. New Vocab: Biotic Abiotic Biodiversity Keystone Species

Main Idea 1: An ecosystem includes both biotic and abiotic factors. Biotic factors are living things, like: plants animals fungi Bacteria Bio = Life If something has life, then it is living. plants

Abiotic factors are nonliving things, like: moisture temperature wind sunlight soil rocks moisture sunlight A = Without Bio = Life If something does not have life, then it is not living. The balance of these factors determines what can live in a particular environment.

Main Idea 2: Changing one factor in an ecosystem can affect many other factors. An ecosystem is a complex web of connected biotic and abiotic factors. Biodiversity is the assortment, or variety, of living things in an ecosystem. The amount of biodiversity in an ecosystem depends on many factors. Rain forests have more biodiversity than other locations in the world, but are threatened by human activities. Why is this?

A keystone species is a species that has an unusually large effect on its ecosystem. Because there are complex relationships within an ecosystem, a single change (a few broken strings in a web) in biotic or abiotic factors could have a variety of effects. keystone What would happen if the keystone in the arc was missing?

Here is an example of a Keystone species and how they form and maintain a complex web of life. creation of wetland ecosystem increased waterfowl Population increased fish population nesting sites for birds keystone species